{% include "includes/auth/janrain/signIn_traditional.html" with message='It looks like you are already verified. If you still have trouble signing in, you probably need a new confirmation link email.' %}

Love My Austin Job: Eric Marburger

Love My Austin Job: Eric Marburger

1. “I am teaching kids, and any one who works with kids knows how rewarding it can be,” said Marburger.

2. “The really cool thing about this career is that I don’t just teach a kid for one year like most schoolteachers. I’ve had kids who I have coached for eight years,” he said.

3. “The whole sport of gymnastics is kind of like a big family,” he said. “Whether they are my coaching colleagues at this gym, in this state or across the country, we all know each other. Whenever I watch the Olympics, I know half the people there. It is really cool to be a part of something like that.”

4. “The entire U.S. gymnastics organization is incredible,” said Marburger. “There is a whole central goal that is shared. We are all in it together.”

5. “This gym that I coach at, that I grew up at, is one of the oldest gyms in the country.” he said. “It has been around forever and to be a part of this gym in itself is an honor. The place I work is a phenomenal place to work; it is an Austin staple.”

Young bodies spin and flip in the background while others balance on beams and suspend themselves on rings in mid-air around Eric Marburger.

The swirl of movement and reverberating sounds of feet pounding the floor are distracting to a newcomer, but they don’t seem to phase Marburger, who has spent 23 of his 27 years in the same gymnasium.

The Austin-born and -raised gymnast was only 4 when he entered the doors of Crenshaw Athletic Club, and he was around 8 when he backflipped his way toward an invitation to join its competitive boys team. He competed throughout middle school and high school, continuing his passion-turned-career in college. Today he couldn’t think of a better office than Crenshaw’s 12,000-square-foot gymnasium, where he works as the boys competitive team coach.

“All the rewards that come from being a teacher and a mentor are incredible,” said Marburger. “That alone is why I do it, but the fact that this entire sport is like one big family is a huge bonus — I have friends all over the country from all the years competing in this sport, and it is really cool to be a part of something like that.”

Marburger attended Lee Elementary, Kealing Middle School and McCallum High School, spending his weeknights practicing and his weekends competing. He qualified for the Junior National Championships three times and traveled to competitions across the state and country, often competing with future Olympians like Jonathan Horton.

“It was difficult to win medals,” he said with a laugh, referring to the days competing with the 2008 Olympic silver medalist and 17-time medalist at the U.S. National Championships.

Even when Marburger was a student at The University of Texas at Austin, he was still competing in all six events of the sport — floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bar and horizontal bar. His favorite was horizontal bar though rings were considered his best event.

“I competed for UT’s club team for three years, and we ended up winning three consecutive club national titles,” he said.

But it was during his freshman year of college that Marburger’s career path began to take shape.

“I started coaching during my first year of college so I could work out,” he said. “I exchanged training time for coaching.”

When he first started coaching at Crenshaw’s, he began instructing younger children. By his senior year, Marburger had worked his way up to coaching the entire boys’ competitive team.

“By the time I had graduated, I already had a full-time coaching position,” he said.

With his English degree in hand, Marburger knew he didn’t need to search for another career; he already had one he loved.

“Everything just seemed to line up,” Marburger said. “I knew I could start over and do something else or I could keep doing what I knew would be the most fun.”

Today, Marburger works six days a week at Crenshaw Athletic Club, unless it’s competition season when Sunday practices are required, too. He arrives around midday to prepare the day’s activities, check over the scheduling and finalize conditioning plans and objectives. At 3 p.m., his first class shows up — 4- to 8-year-olds who are just getting a taste for gymnastics. His first competitive group arrives an hour later, a group of talented 10-year-olds who practice for two and a half hours. Marburger wraps up the rest of the evening by coaching junior high and high school boys on the competitive team until nearly 9 p.m. Despite the fact that Marburger has spent the majority of his life under the same gymnasium roof, he can’t think of another place he’d rather work.

“This is a blast,” he said. “It is so much better than sitting in an office or doing anything else. I get to hang out at the place where I grew up and made some of the best memories of my life. I really don’t think there is much else out there that can beat it. I love everything about this job.”